Dredg ing-machine



(No Model.)

J W. HENDERSON. DREDGING MACHINE.

No. 551,962. Patented Dec. 24, 1895.

INVENTOR g WITNESSES:

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.IoIIN-w. HENDERSON, or TUNIOA, MISSISSIPPI.

DREDGlNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 551 ,962, dated December 24, 1895.

Application filed July 15, 1893. Serial No. 430,677. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN WIMBIsH HEN- DERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tunica, in the county of Tunica and State of Mississippi, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hendersons Hydraulic-Auger Dredging-Machines,

of which the following is a description.

This invention is intended for cutting canals, cutting out sand-bars in rivers, and digging out and deepening rivers and is operated entirely by the force of the current, its application and use, of course,being limited to places where there is a current of water of sufiicient depth and velocity to provide the motive force necessary in the operation of the machine.

With this and such other ends in view as result from the specific structure of the device, the invention consists of the novel features and the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts which hereinafter will be more fully described and claimed, and which are shown in the annexed drawings,in which Figure 1 is. an end View of my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a view showing coupling. Fig. 4 is a detail View of one of the blades.

Similar letters and figures refer to corresponding parts in the several views.

Upon an iron shaft A, of any desired length, works each Section ofmy device, the shaft being an axis upon which the sections revolve, the upper end of the shaft being arranged with a socket 2, into which fits the swivel 3. (See Fig. 2.) This swivel is for the attachment of an anchor-chain in order that the device may be revolved without the chain becoming kinked. The lower end of the iron rod or shaft is provided with couplings to enable additional sections to be fastened together, as shown in Fig. 3.

Upon the rod or shaft A works myimproved screw-dredge, and as many can be used as desired. The screw dredge consists of sectional pieces 4, and are placed one upon another, and each one is securely bolted to the one adjoining itself by bolts 6, making thereby a solid section. Through this section is bored a hole 7, in which is placed a box or journal for the insertion of the shaft A. The extreme ends may be serrated, as shown, or, a spiked attachment, as shown in Fig. 5, may be secured to the ends. This attachment does the scratching in the sand or silt necessary in the dredging. Now if I anchor the upper end of the dredge, leaving the lower end loose, it will of course swing around in the current and lie with the axis parallel with the current, the lower end swinging downstream. 1 This position brings the blades so that the current strikes them at such an angle as to impart to them a rotary motion. Now if the dredge be sunk to the bottom of the stream, so that the revolving spiked or serrated ends come in contact with the riverbed, the sediment will be scratched up and carried off by the current.

- Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a device for dredging rivers, a rod or shaft having a chain or cable connected thereto, a revolving device situated around said rod or shaft, said revolving device constructed of sections bolted together and forming blades or cutters, substantially as set forth.

2. In a device for dredging, consisting of a number of sections bolted together and revolving around a shaft and forming blades, projections or spikes attached to the said blades, substantially as set forth.

J. W. HENDERSON.

Attest:

' GEO. S. HYDE,

WV. H. CARROLL. 

